The match between Alexander Zverev and Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros semi-finals attracted the attention of fans for many reasons.
So, it took place on the 36th birthday of the eminent Spaniard, who fought for his 14th final of the French Open.
Exactly 17 years ago, Rafa reached the semi-finals of the Paris Major for the first time, defeated Roger Federer in it, and subsequently won the title.
To this day, he is the only player to whom RG obeyed on the first try.
The track record of the third racket of the world is much more modest, although he is certainly far from a beginner.
Before the Friday match, he already had four Grand Slam semi-finals, one of which - at the US Open-2020 - ended in victory.
Then he beat another Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta, but lost in the final to the Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Therefore, in Paris, the German tennis player did not hide that he was tired of being content with second roles in the main competitions of the tour.
“I am already 25 years old, I am at the stage of my career when I have to win,” he said at a press conference.
In addition to the directly sports component, the meeting between Zverev and Nadal was interesting from the point of view of rating prospects.
In case of victory in the semi-finals, and then the final, Alexander could become the first racket of the world.
But the defeat of the German returned to the leading line of Daniil Medvedev, who occupied it from February 28 to March 20.
The beginning of the match was in favor of Sasha - he immediately made a break on the opponent's serve and led the set 4:2.
But, apparently, having felt the closeness of victory in the game, Alexander could not cope with his nerves.
He began to make absolutely inexplicable mistakes, sending the ball into touch, then into the net from winning positions.
Nadal, of course, does not forgive such rivals.
The Spaniard made a reverse break, leveled the game and even had three set points on someone else's serve with a score of 5:4, but the German pulled himself together in time and bounced back - in the end it came to a tie-break.
In the additional game, Alexander had four opportunities to complete the game in his favor, but his psychology again let him down, and the set was left for the 13-time Roland Garros champion.
The second game was generally incredible for men's tennis.
In ten games, the players made four breaks each, and Nadal took his serve for the first time only on the fifth attempt.
It seemed that the set was going to another tie-break, but with a score of 6:5 in his favor, Zverev unsuccessfully twitched for the ball, twisted his leg - and a second later fell to the ground with a terrible cry of pain.
He left the court on a wheelchair, and after some time returned on crutches to announce the obvious - he would not be able to continue the fight.
Rafa all this time tried in every possible way to support the opponent, and then they hugged warmly.
“This is a very difficult moment.
He played incredible, he could win this match and the next.
Everyone knows what reaching the Roland Garros final means to me.
I dreamed about it, but I did not want this match to end like this, ”Nadal said after the opponent left the stadium.
And, contrary to a long-established tradition, at the end of the meeting they didn’t even bring a cake in honor of the famous athlete’s birthday - everyone was so shocked by what happened.
Almost the entire tennis world spoke with sympathy about the injury of the German athlete, calling it a terrible coincidence.
So, the Olympic champion Elena Vesnina noted that he could well win that evening.
“Despite the fact that it was already the fourth hour of the match, Sasha had just begun to grope for his game and understand how to win over an eminent opponent.
It's a shame that the match ended that way, ”said the athlete in a conversation with RT.
At the same time, she noted that Daniil Medvedev, who, after the departure of Zverev, would regain the title of the first racket of the world on June 13, was hardly happy about how exactly his re-ascension to the top happened.
According to her, the Russian always stands for a fair fight and respects his opponents.
“Of course, this is an achievement.
But it seems to me that Danya doesn’t really think about it now, although, of course, becoming the first racket of the world is a childhood dream of any tennis player.
For him now, this is a kind of statement of fact that he will be the leader, since Djokovic's points will burn out, and Nadal passed Zverev.
This is good news, but I'm sure he would like to win the top line of the rankings with his results.
So this news will only become an incentive for him to further improve his game, win new tournaments in order to stay on the first line for as long as possible, ”Vesnina emphasized.
She also emphasized that Daniil himself, of course, had the merit of returning the status of the tour leader, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, despite the fact that very little time had passed after the operation for a hernia.
In addition, in her opinion, Cilic, whom Medvedev lost, performed in Paris at an incredible level and could well have reached the final and even won the tournament.
However, the beautiful story of the 33-year-old Croatian ended with the Norwegian Kasper Ruud, who reached the final, where he will meet with Nadal.
Honored coach of Russia Viktor Yanchuk, in turn, noted that the return of Medvedev to the leading position in the tour was a matter of time.
“If it weren’t for the pause when he didn’t play due to injury, everything would be fine, and he could have become the first earlier.
But while Daniil is not in his best shape, and we are waiting for him to return to his peak, but this will take some time, maybe about two months.
We must thank fate that it all turned out this way.
I will say that sooner or later, Daniel would still be the first, because time works for the youth, ”Championship quotes Yanchuk.
And in the opinion of the two-time winner of the Grand Slam tournaments in mixed doubles Andrei Olkhovsky, the Russian will be able to confirm and maintain his status, although his current achievement did not entirely depend on his own result.
“The system is that during the year you have to score a certain number of points in order to reach the top.
Danya will be number one for more than one week!
No one will be able to catch up with him, since there will be no points at Wimbledon.
This is a great result!”
— said the former tennis player.